Q&A
A selection of
historical conundrums
answered by experts
BRIDGEMANIt seems extraordinary that two
such remarkable – and in some ways
similar – empires could co-exist at
the same time and not know about
each other. But, although both
covered huge distances in pursuit of
trade opportunities and power, there
is no evidence that these civilisa-
tions ever encountered each other or
even knew of the other’s existence.
What’s often forgotten is that the
distance between the Aztec and Inca
realms is perhaps 2,000 miles as the
crow flies, and much further on foot
through the mountainous terrain of
Central and South America, passing
through territory that now belongs
to at least eight different nations.
(In the 16th century, it would have
been many more.) So, although
Spanish invaders saw them both as
part of the nebulous “Republic of
Indians”, and these great civilisa-
tions are often lumped together in
the popular imagination today, they
were in reality very distant.Caroline Dodds Pennock, senior
lecturer in international history at
the University of SheffieldDid the Incas and
Aztecs know about
each other?
A portrait of Mary Tudor,
painted in 1544 when she
was 28. Suitors dried up after
the marriage of Henry VIII
and Catherine of Aragon was
annulled, and Mary wed only
after becoming queenWhy did Henry VIII never secure a diplomatic
marriage for his daughter Mary?
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Daugh-
ters might have been disappointments to
a king desperate to bolster his dynasty
with a male heir, but they were still useful
for forging treaties with foreign princes.
At the tender age of two, Mary was
promised to the infant son of her father’s
great rival, Francis I of France, but that
agreement fell through. In 1522, the
princess was contracted to marry her first
cousin, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V;
she was just six years old, while he was 22.
Then Charles broke off that engage-
ment, so Henry swiftly resumed negotia-
tions with France. Yet again, his efforts
came to nothing, and in 1528 the English
king changed tack, mooting his 12-year-
old daughter as a potential bride for
another cousin, James V of Scotland.
By then, Mary’s parents’ marriage
was in crisis, with Catherine of Aragon
looking increasingly likely to besupplanted by Henry’s great obsession,
Anne Boleyn. The king finally secured an
annulment in 1533 and married his
already pregnant paramour. Though
Anne, too, gave Henry only a daughter
(Elizabeth), Mary’s stock on the interna-
tional marriage market plummeted.
The fact that her mother’s marriage to
the king had been declared null and void
effectively rendered Mary illegitimate.
There was little more talk of suitors until
she was finally able to take matters into
her own hands, having ascended to the
throne in 1553. But the world of 16th-
century betrothals was a small one –
and one of her first acts as queen was to
marry Philip of Spain, son of erstwhile
fiancé Charles V.Trac y Borma n, historian, broadcaster and
author whose books include The Private Lives
of the Tudors (Hodder & Stoughton, 2016)